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Saturday, 5 December 2015

Surprise scope!

This morning the GI and hematology doctors stopped by to inform me that my hemoglobin had crashed out overnight so besides giving me 2 units of blood, they wanted to figure out the problem ASAP instead of waiting until Monday for the gastro scope. As I had eaten breakfast by the time they told me, it was scheduled for the afternoon. Surprise!

The advantage of the surprise scope was that I didn't have that much time to freak out beforehand. I hung out with a friend in the morning and then spent the hour before the scope stress-writing Christmas cards to avoid a panic attack.

I didn't really start panicking until they brought the machine into the room and started setting everything up. Once the freezing spray went in, I was starting to freak out a bit but then the GI doctor (who had much better bedside manners than the one last week) started singing Les Mis while he was setting up which was fairly distracting to my panicking. He had also taken my concerns about the sedation very seriously and they had been charted from last weekend's disaster so he wasn't about to go light-weight with me.

In the end, the scope went as well as possible. I was solidly knocked out and woke up at the end when everyone was cleaning up. Exactly how it should be.

The news from the scope is not super stellar. The doctor was able to locate and clamp off some of the mass that was oozing blood. However, it was not bleeding very much so he isn't confident that it has been responsible for all the blood I've been pooping. So, they're talking about a potential colonoscopy on Monday or Tuesday. They mentioned all this while I was still fairly sedated so I'm not 100% sure I have all the correct information. I was told he'll be back in the morning to discuss more with me about the scope and the plan from here. Unfortunately, after all the colonoscopy talk over a month ago, it looks like it may happen after all. I thought I managed to escape at least one scope!

I have a bit of sedation hangover but I've felt physically okay after sleeping off most of the medication. My throat is feeling okay and I managed to eat some soup and rolls for supper so I'm feeling pretty solid. I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight though. I'm actually glad they did the scope today as it means they have more information and can make plans sooner rather than waiting until Monday. Anything to speed up the process of maybe going home.